Dreaming: Its Psychology, Its Meaning

Since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in the 1950s, scientists have increasingly studied the physiology of sleep, hoping to unlock the function and meaning of dreams. But for millennia, every culture has had its own ideas about dreaming. Explore Western culture’s psychological theories of dreaming, including those of psychoanalysis (Freud), other forms of depth psychology (Jung), and cognitive and linguistic psychology. Look at current research and theories about how dreaming functions and what it means, including the phenomena of lucid dreaming, or being fully conscious in a dream state; universal dream themes; and myths, or “public dreams.”